Unheard Voices, Part 2: Women in Astronomy

A Resource Guide by Andrew Fraknoi (Foothill College)
[Aug. 2021]

A PDF version of this document is also available for download (623KB).

© copyright 2021 by Andrew Fraknoi. The right to use or reproduce this guide for any nonprofit educational purposes is hereby granted. For permission to use in other ways, or to suggest additional materials, please contact the author at e-mail: fraknoi {at} fhda {dot} edu

There is growing documentation of the challenges women have faced, and are facing, in having an equal role in astronomy. At the same time, women are attaining important positions throughout the astronomical community, including the presidency of the International Astronomical Union and the American Astronomical Society. This means that excellent role models are now available to show girls that they can be an integral part of the human exploration of the universe. Many instructors of astronomy would like to present such role models during their class discussions, but don’t have the material to do so at hand or in their textbooks.

Therefore, the Higher Education Working Group within NASA’s Science Mission Directorate sponsored this guide to English-language materials on women in astronomy. It has now been updated to include more younger women and people of color among the women featured. It is not meant to be a comprehensive introduction to this complex topic, but merely a sampling of useful resource for educators and their students on the history, the biographical information, and the current issues. Suggestions for additional materials that are both accessible to and readable by beginners are most welcome.


Table of Contents:


1. Resources on the History of Women in Astronomy

Armstrong, Mabel Women Astronomers: Reaching for the Stars. 2008, Stone Pine Press. Covers the lives and careers of 21 women astronomers, past and present; written for teenagers and up.

Bernardi, G. “Who Was the First Professional Woman Astronomer? Christine Kirch” in Sky & Telescope, Jan. 2019, p. 68.

Bell Burnell, Jocelyn: “A Celebration of Women in Astronomy” (a talk in 2012 in Edinburgh; we only hear the audio, there is no video, but it is a fascinating public talk with profiles of specific women, including Caroline Herschel and Vera Rubin, and discussions of trends): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_50PyimUE5s

Bovill, Mia: A 2017 talk on “The Harvard Computers and the Classification of the Stars”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dhF2bOrKWks (the talk starts at 16 min 30 sec into the video)

Dvorak, John “The Women Who Created Modern Astronomy” in Sky & Telescope, Aug. 2013, p. 28. Focuses on the work of Annie Cannon, Antonia Maury, and Wilhelmina Fleming in classifying and understanding stars.

Freitag, Ruth “Bibliography on Women in Astronomy”: http://www.loc.gov/rr/scitech/womenastro/womenastro-intro.html A far more comprehensive and scholarly bibliography, organized by last name, of written articles on women in astronomy. Ruth Freitag’s work was the early inspiration for the resource guide you are reading.

Ghez, Andrea & Cohen, Judith You Can Be a Woman Astronomer. 2006, Cascade Press. A picture book for children from grades 3 - 5.

James, C. “Edward and Mina” in Astronomy, July 2002, p. 46. Despite the title, this treats several women who worked at the Harvard Observatory.

Lankford, J. & Slavings, R. "Gender and Science: Women in Ameri­can Astronomy 1859-1940" in Physics Today, Mar. 1990, vol. 43, p. 58.

Mack, P. "Straying from Their Orbits: Women in Astronomy in America" in G. Kass-Simon & P. Farnes, eds. Women of Science. 1990, Indiana U. Press.

Rice, Emily: a talk on contributions of women to astronomy (with many historical and contemporary examples and an analysis of modern trends):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5vMR7su4fi8

Rubin, Vera "Women's Work: Women in Modern Astronomy" in Science 86, Jul/Aug. 1986, p. 58.

Smith, Beverly: A presentation on the history of women in astronomy and current statistics about their participation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yAa-gCSUwEE

Sobel, Dava The Glass Universe. 2016, Viking. Rich, deeply researched, marvelous book on the women who worked at Harvard at the start of the 20th century and changed the way we understood the stars.

Spradley, J. "Women and the Stars" in The Physics Teacher, Sep. 1990, p. 372.

Warner, Deborah "Women Astronomers" in Natural History, May 1979, p. 12.

4000 Years of Women in Science: http://4kyws.ua.edu/ Maintained by two women astronomers, this site includes brief information on women from many fields of science, not just astronomy. For 20th century women scientists, see: http://4kyws.ua.edu/20th.century/20th.shtml

The Woman Astronomer: http://www.womanastronomer.com/ Debra Davis, a Colorado amateur astronomer, keeps this site and newsletter devoted to both amateurs and professionals.

Women at NASA: http://women.nasa.gov/ Profiles of women who work for the US Space Agency, including a number of astronomers and astrobiologists. The profiles include personal statements that can be quite moving and inspiring.


2. Resources on Issues Women Face

Bell Burnell, Jocelyn “So Few Pulsars, So Few Females” in Science, 23 April 2004, vol. 304, no. 5670, p. 489.

Bell Burnell, Jocelyn, TED talk on “Reflections on Women in Science: Diversity and Discomfort” (a 15-minute talk with some of her personal history and statistics about women in astronomy): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jp7amRdr30Y

Davenport, J., et al. “Studying Gender in [AAS] Conference Talks”: https://arxiv.org/abs/1403.3091

Finkbeiner, Ann “Good Morning, Gentlemen and Meg: Astronomy, A Woman’s Choice” (an article compiling personal history and suggestions from interviews of 15 noted women astronomers): https://cswa.aas.org/status/2001/JANUARY2001/Finkbeiner.html

Geller, Margaret “The Black Ribbon” in Science, 28 August 1998, vol. 281 no. 5381 p. 1278. On-line at: https://science.sciencemag.org/content/281/5381/1278.full

Kinney, Anne, et al, eds. Meeting the Challenges of an Increasingly Diverse Workforce: Women in Astronomy and Space Science . 2009, NASA. The entire book is available free on the web as a PDF file: https://cswa.aas.org/MEETING/WomeninAstroProceedings.pdf

Seager, Sara “So Many Exoplanets, So Few Women Scientists,” a blog post at: https://www.huffpost.com/entry/women-in-science_b_2471980

Urry, C. Megan, et al, eds. Women in Astronomy: Proceedings of a 1992 Workshop. 1993, Space Telescope Science Institute. (Now on web at: http://www.stsci.edu/institute/conference/wia/ )

Urry, Meg: colloquium on “Women in Science: Why So Few?” (an hour-long, illustrated talk on statistics and issues, not just about astronomy, but with many eye-opening ideas): http://vimeo.com/35730552

American Astronomical Society Committee on the Status of Women: https://cswa.aas.org/

A rich site with back issues of the valuable “Status” newsletter, a database of living women astronomers, legal resources, conference proceedings, and discussion of issues related to the role of professional women in the field. For good resources from other fields they recommend, see: https://cswa.aas.org/resources.html

STATUS is the magazine of the Committee on the Status of Women of the American Astronomical Society (it is a treasure trove of materials, issues, personal stories): https://cswa.aas.org/STATUS.html

10 Tips for Undergraduate Women Science Students (from Astronomer Sara Seager): http://www.usnews.com/education/blogs/professors-guide/2010/08/11/10-tips-for-women-students-in-science-fields

The Baltimore Charter (spelling out what can be done to help improve the status and working conditions of women in astronomy): https://cswa.aas.org/bc.html

Why So Few? Women in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (2010 research report from the Association of University Women discusses key research findings on factors that block women’s participation and progress in science): http://www.aauw.org/resource/why-so-few-women-in-science-technology-engineering-and-mathematics/

Women at Work: A Meeting on the Status of Women in Astronomy: http://www.stsci.edu/institute/conference/wia/

Proceedings of a pioneering 1992 meeting with useful local and national perspectives.

Women in Planetary Science: http://womeninplanetaryscience.wordpress.com/profiles/ (Profiles of more than 50 women active in studying the solar system, and a discussion of issues they face)

Women in Astronomy Blog (from the American Astronomical Society): http://womeninastronomy.blogspot.com/

Women in Astronomy 2009 (a 3-minute video, made in conjunction with the 2009 meeting about women in astronomy. Concise framing of issues through interviews with leaders such as Vera Rubin, Meg Urry, and Dara Norman): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1QyMB0qagZs


3. Material on Some Women Astronomers of the Past

Alexander, Claudia (1959 - 2015)

Interview on the Women in Planetary Science web site: http://womeninplanetaryscience.wordpress.com/2011/02/03/claudia-alexander-be-prepared-to-be-flexible-in-your-career/

JPL video where she explains some of her work (3 min): https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/video/details.php?id=184

Memorials and Brief Interview at NASA Solar System Exploration: https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/people/1140/claudia-alexander-1959-2015/

Obituary in the NY Times: https://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/20/us/claudia-alexander-nasa-manager-who-led-jupiter-mission-dies-at-56.html

Memorial at the American Geophysical Union EOS Site: https://eos.org/articles/claudia-joan-alexander-1959-2015

Alexander, Claudia: Windows to Adventure: Which Mountain is Greatest of All? (a 2-part children’s book series on mountains on Earth and other worlds; 2015, Red Phoenix Books)

Burbidge, Margaret (1919 - 2020)

Armstrong, Mabel Women Astronomers: Reaching for the Stars. 2008, Stone Pine Press. This book for teens has a chapter on Burbidge.

Bartusiak, Marcia “Margaret Burbidge” in Smithsonian, Nov. 2005, p. 34 (brief biography, on the web at: http://www.marciabartusiak.com/uploads/8/5/8/9/8589314/burbidge.pdf

Burbidge, Margaret “Watcher of the Skies” (an autobiographical article from Annual Reviews 1994; 37-page PDF): http://www.annualreviews.org/doi/pdf/10.1146/annurev.aa.32.090194.000245

Byers, Nina & Williams, Gary, eds. Out of the Shadows: Contributions of 20th Century Women to Physics. 2006, Cambridge U. Press. Includes chapter on Burbidge.

Croswell, Ken The Alchemy of the Heavens: Searching for Meaning in the Milky Way. 1995, Doubleday. See Chapter 9.

Reed, J. "A Great Woman Astronomer Leaves England Again" in Smithsonian, Jan. 1974, p. 34.

Rubin, Vera "Margaret Burbidge: AAAS President-Elect" in Science, vol. 211, p. 915 (Feb. 27, 1981). On the web at: http://science.sciencemag.org/content/211/4485/915 (but you will need privileges from your library to access the piece beyond page 1.)

Skuse, B. “Happy [100th] Birthday, Margaret Burbidge” in Sky &Telescope, July 2019, p. 60.

"The Stargazer" in Time magazine, Mar. 20, 1972, p. 38.

Bruce Medal Profile: http://www.phys-astro.sonoma.edu/BruceMedalists/BurbidgeM/

Interview with David DeVorkin at the Center for the History of Physics from 1978: https://www.aip.org/history-programs/niels-bohr-library/oral-histories/25487

Her 2001 Hitchcock Lecture on “Modern Alchemy: Stars, Chemistry, and Cosmology”: http://podcast.uctv.tv/vod/23342.mp4

Happy 100th Birthday Video Card from colleagues at the U. of California, San Diego; reminiscences and the story of her career: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=afie3P5hwNg

Brief Obituary in Nature by Virginia Trimble: https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-01224-9

Her memorial celebration through the AAS (July 2020) with a 2-hour video remembering her life and work: https://baas.aas.org/pub/2020i0205/release/1

____________________________

Cannon, Annie (1863-1941)

Armstrong, Mabel Women Astronomers: Reaching for the Stars. 2008, Stone Pine Press. This book for teens has a chapter on Cannon.

Bok, Priscilla "Annie Jump Cannon 1863-1941" in Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific, June 1941, vol. 53, p. 168. (Available on the Web at: http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1941PASP...53..168B )

Greenstein, George "The Ladies of Observatory Hill" inAmerican Scholar, Feb. 1993, p. 437. (Reprinted in his book Portraits of Discovery, 1998, John Wiley.)

Hearnshaw, John The Analysis of Starlight. 1986, Cambridge U. Press. See Chapter 5.

Kidwell, P. "Three Women of American Astronomy" in American Scientist, May/June 1990, p. 244.

Merrill, P. "Annie Jump Cannon" in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, vol. 102, no. 2, p. 74 (1942).

Sobel, Dava The Glass Universe. 2016, Viking. Includes a considerable amount of material on Cannon and her mentoring of other women.

Annie Cannon pages at Wellesley College: http://academics.wellesley.edu/Astronomy/Annie/ Part of a student project, but with good local historical information.

Article on MacTutor: http://www-history.mcs.st-andrews.ac.uk/Biographies/Cannon.html

Aceves, Ana: Annie Jump Cannon, Star Classifier (a short post on the Sky &Telescope website, 2016: http://www.skyandtelescope.com/astronomy-resources/annie-jump-cannon-star-classifier/

Project Continua Page: http://www.projectcontinua.org/annie-jump-cannon/

Obituary by H. A. Bruck in The Observatory, Vol. 64, p. 113-115 (1941): http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1941Obs....64..113B (click on “full printable article PDF”)

Information on video about Cannon’s life and work: http://cfa-www.harvard.edu/~alexg/ajc.html

__________________________

Clerke, Agnes (1842-1907)

Bruck, Mary "Agnes Mary Clerke: Chronicler of Astronomy" in Quarterly Journal of the Royal Astronomical Society, Mar. 1994, p. 59. Lengthy profile, on the web at: http://adsabs.harvard.edu/full/1994QJRAS..35...59B

Bruck, Mary Agnes Mary Clerke & the Rise of Astrophysics. 2002, Cambridge U. Press.

Bruck, Mary “Agnes Mary Clerke: Ever Popular Historian of Astronomy” in Antiquarian Astronomer, 2004, iss. #1, p. 3. On the web at: http://adsabs.harvard.edu/full/2004AntAs...1....3B

Cliver, Edward “Agnes Mary Clerke: Real Time Historian of Astronomy” inAstronomy & Geophysics (the magazine of the Royal Astronomical Society), June 2007, vol. 48, p. 3.25. (On the web at: https://academic.oup.com/astrogeo/article/48/3/3.25/200790/Agnes-Mary-Clerke-Real-time-historian-of-astronomy )

Debakcsy, Dale: Agnes Mary Clerke: At the Nerve Center of 19th Century Astrophysics” at: http://womenyoushouldknow.net/agnes-mary-clerke-nerve-center-19th-century-astrophysics/

Russell, Sarah “Agnes Mary Clerke: Stars, Systems, Problems” in Astronomy & Geophysics, 1 June 2016, Vol. 57, Issue 3, Pages 3.16ff. On the web at: https://academic.oup.com/astrogeo/article/57/3/3.16/1741860

See, T.J.J. “Some Recollections of Agnes Mary Clerke” in Popular Astronomy, 1907, Vol. 15, No. 6, p. 323.

Weitzenhoffer, Kenneth "The Prolific Pen of Agnes Clerke" in Sky & Telescope, Sep. 1985, p. 211.

Biography at the History of Mathematics website: http://www-history.mcs.st-andrews.ac.uk/Biographies/Clerke.html

1907 Obituary from the Astrophysical Journal by Margaret Huggins: http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1907ApJ....25..226H (click on full article)

Brief 1907 obituary in the Times of London: http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Times/1907/Obituary/Agnes_Mary_Clerke

_____________________________

Fleming, Williamina (1857-1911)

Armstrong, Mabel Women Astronomers: Reaching for the Stars. 2008, Stone Pine Press. This book for teens has a chapter on Fleming.

Hirshfeld, Alan “Williamina Fleming: The Brief Life of a Spectrographic Pioneer” in Harvard Magazine, Jan/Feb. 2017. On the web at: https://harvardmagazine.com/2017/01/williamina-fleming

Nelson, Sue “From Scotch Maid to Innovative Astronomer” in Astronomy & Geophysics, 1 June 2016, vol. 57, issue 3, p. 3.12. On-line at: https://academic.oup.com/astrogeo/article/57/3/3.12/1741845

Sobel, Dava The Glass Universe. 2016, Viking. Includes a considerable amount of material on Fleming’s life and work.

Spradley, J. "The Industrious Mrs. Fleming" in Astronomy, July 1990, p. 48.

Spradley, J. "Two Centennials of Star Catalogs Compiled by Women" in Astronomy Quarterly, vol. 7, no. 3, p. 177 (1990).

Brief biography at Woman Astronomer site: http://www.womanastronomer.com/wfleming.htm

Short biographical article at the New England Historical Society: http://www.newenglandhistoricalsociety.com/williamina-fleming-boston-maid-discovered-stars/

Fleming, Wilhelmina: Obituary (1911) by Annie Cannon from the Astrophysical Journal: http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1911ApJ....34..314C (click on the PDF box at the end to see the article itself)

Her page at Project Continua: http://www.projectcontinua.org/williamina-paton-fleming/

___________________________

Herschel, Caroline (1750-1848)

Armstrong, Mabel Women Astronomers: Reaching for the Stars. 2008, Stone Pine Press. This book for teens has a chapter on Herschel.

Belkora, Leila Minding the Heavens: The Story of Our Discovery of the Milky Way. 2003, IOP Publishing. Chapter 4 is about the Herschels.

Brock, Claire The Comet Sweeper: Caroline Herschel’s Astronomical Ambition. 2008, Totem Books. A popular-level biography. A radio program interviewing the author can be found at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/womanshour/03/2007_11_thu.shtml

Gould, Paula “Two Good Women, or Too Good to Be True?” (a 2002 essay from Science, considering how Caroline Herschel and Mary Somerville are treated by history, in contrast with men of their time): https://science.sciencemag.org/content/296/5574/1805.full

Higgins, F. Sweeper of the Skies: Caroline Herschel. 1967, Follett. For young people.

Hoskin, Michael “Caroline Herschel’s Life of Mortification and Disappointments, in Journal for the History of Astronomy, Nov. 2014, Vol. 45, No. 4, p.442-466.

Hoskin, Michael “In Caroline Herschel’s Footsteps” in Sky & Telescope, Aug. 2007, p. 59.

Hoskin, Michael “Astronomy’s Matriarch” in Sky &Telescope, May 2005, p. 42-46.

Hoskin, Michael The Herschel Partnership, as Viewed by Caroline. 2003, Science History Publications. By a noted historian of astronomy.

Hughes, D. “Caroline Herschel: Comet Huntress” in Journal of the British Astronomical Association, Apr. 1999, vol. 109, p. 78. On the web at: http://adsabs.harvard.edu/full/1999JBAA..109...78H

Lemonick, Michael The Georgian Star: How William and Caroline Herschel Revolutionized Our Understanding of the Cosmos. 2008, W. W. Norton. A popular-level history of their partnership, by a science reporter.

Lubbock, C. The Herschel Chronicle. 1933, Cambridge U. Press. Family chronicle of William and Caroline, by his grand-daughter. On the web at: https://books.google.com/books?id=Hcc5AAAAIAAJ

McCully, Emily Caroline’s Comet. 2017, Holiday House. Illustrated children’s book.

Ogilvie, Marilyn: Searching the Stars: The Story of Carolyn Herschel. 2011, History Press. On the web at: https://books.google.com/books?id=2LgTDQAAQBAJ

Winterburn, Emily The Quiet Revolution of Caroline Herschel: The Lost Heroine in Astronomy. 2018, History Press.

Biography at MacTutor Site:

http://www-groups.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/~history/Biographies/Herschel_Caroline.html

The full text of the 1879 (2nd) edition of the Memoirs and Correspondence of Caroline Herschel has been digitized and is freely available from Google Books at: http://books.google.com/books?id=9kIBAAAAQAAJ

Nicholas, Siobhán: Stella (a play about Caroline Herschel): http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/blog/2012/may/14/play-astronomer-caroline-herschel

Obituary in Monthly Notices of the RAS: http://adsbit.harvard.edu/full/seri/MNRAS/0008//0000066.000.html

__________________________

Huggins, Margaret (1848-1916)

Becker, Barbara “Dispelling the Myth of the Able Assistant: Margaret and William Huggins at Work in the Tulse Hill Observatory” in Helena Pycior, et al. eds., Creative Couples in the Sciences. 1996, Rutgers University Press. (On the web at: http://faculty.humanities.uci.edu/bjbecker/ExploringtheCosmos/week7b.html ; this is also part of a whole book on the Huggins’ at: http://faculty.humanities.uci.edu/bjbecker/huggins/ )

Becker, Barbara “Margaret Huggins and Tulse Hill Observatory” in Astronomy & Geophysics, Vol. 57, Issue 2, 1 Apr. 2016, p. 2.13. On-line at: https://academic.oup.com/astrogeo/article/57/2/2.13/2468644

Belkora, Leila Minding the Heavens: The Story of Our Discovery of the Milky Way. 2003, IOP Publishing. Chapter 6 is about the Hugginses.

Bruck, Mary Agnes Mary Clerke & the Rise of Astrophysics. 2002, Cambridge U. Press. See Chapter 5 and several other sections about Margaret Huggins’ work and relationship with Clerke.

Bruck, M. T. “Companions in Astronomy: Margaret Huggins and Agnes Clerke” in
Irish Astronomical Journal, Sep 1991, vol. 20(2), p. 70. On-line at: http://cdsads.u-strasbg.fr/pdf/1991IrAJ...20...70B

McKenna-Lawlor, Susan Whatever Shines Should be Observed. 2003, Springer. The story of five 19th century women who made contributions to astronomy and science, including Huggins.

Joe Tenn’s article on the Hugginses from the Griffith Observer: http://www.phys-astro.sonoma.edu/BruceMedalists/Huggins/HugginsesDrapers.pdf

Dale Debakcsi’s 2018 article “The Secrets Stars Keep: Lady Margaret Huggins Pioneer of Spectral Photography” is at: https://womenyoushouldknow.net/margaret-huggins-spectral-photography/

Obituary in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society: http://articles.adsabs.harvard.edu//full/1916MNRAS..76R.278./0000278.000.html

Obituary by Sarah Whiting in the Astrophysical Journal, 1915: http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1915ApJ....42....1W

Barbara Becker’s 2015 public lecture on the history of 19th century spectroscopy has information on M. Huggins’ role (about 50 min into the video): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fzw-hRzCfAs

_____________________________

 

Leavitt, Henrietta (1868-1921)

Armstrong, Mabel Women Astronomers: Reaching for the Stars. 2008, Stone Pine Press. This book for teens has a chapter on Leavitt.

Burleigh, Robert Look Up!: Henrietta Leavitt, Pioneering Woman Astronomer. 2013, Simon & Schuster. A book for children ages 4 – 8.

Ferguson, Kitty Measuring the Universe. 1999, Walker. Chronicle of how distances were found in the universe, with good discussions of contributions by individual astronomers.

Johnson, George Miss Leavitt’s Stars: The Untold Story of the Woman Who Discovered How to Measure the Universe. 2005, Atlas/Norton.

Mitchell, H. "Henrietta Leavitt and the Cepheid Variables" in The Physics Teacher, Mar. 1976, vol. 14, p. 162.

Moore, Patrick Astronomers’ Stars. 1987, Norton. Chapter 10 concerns Leavitt’s work on Cepheids.

Singh, Simon Big Bang. 2004, Harper. Chapter 3 has a nice section on her life and work.

Sobel, Dava The Glass Universe. 2016, Viking. Includes a considerable amount of material on Leavitt’s life and work.

Brief Biography at Woman Astronomer Site: http://www.womanastronomer.com/hleavitt.htm

Biography on the Famous Scientists Website: https://www.famousscientists.org/henrietta-swan-leavitt/

Haynes, Korey “Meet Henrietta Leavitt” post: http://www.astronomy.com/news/2019/02/meet-henrietta-leavitt-the-woman-who-gave-us-a-universal-ruler

Gunderson, Lauren: Silent Sky (a play about Leavitt): https://sites.google.com/site/henriettasrhapsody/ and http://silentskyplay.tumblr.com/ For more about the dramatist: http://laurengunderson.com/

Video of talk by George Johnson on his “Search for Miss Leavitt”: http://perimeterinstitute.ca/videos/search-miss-leavitt

Film (17-min) by Pangratios Panacosta on Leavitt: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=70cFwfNW7gQ

__________________________

 

Maury, Antonia (1866-1952)

Armstrong, Mabel Women Astronomers: Reaching for the Stars. 2008, Stone Pine Press. This book for teens has a chapter on Maury.

Hearnshaw, John The Analysis of Starlight. 1986, Cambridge U. Press. See Chapter 5.

Hoffleit, Dorrit "Antonia Maury" in Sky & Telescope, Mar. 1952, p. 106.

Sobel, Dava The Glass Universe. 2016, Viking. Includes some material on Maury’s life and work.

Vassar Encyclopedia Entry: http://vcencyclopedia.vassar.edu/alumni/antonia-maury.html

Short biography on the Woman Astronomer site: http://www.womanastronomer.com/amaury.htm

Short biography at Project Continua: http://www.projectcontinua.org/antonia-maury/

Short biography at Time magazine site: http://time.com/4262838/antonia-maury-astronomer/

____________________________

Mitchell, Maria (1818-1889)

Anderson, Dale Maria Mitchell: Astronomer. 2003, Chelsea House. For young adults.

Armstrong, Mabel Women Astronomers: Reaching for the Stars. 2008, Stone Pine Press. This book for teens has a chapter on Mitchell.

Belserene, Emelia "Maria Mitchell: 19th Century Astronomer" in Astronomy Quarterly, vol. 5, no. 19, p. 133 (1986).

Berglund, Renee Maria Mitchell and the Sexing of Science. 2008, Beacon Press. Story of her life and of the importance of her work and fame for women’s issues.

Booker, Margaret Among the Stars: The Life of Maria Mitchell. 2007, Mill Hill Press. A long biography for adult readers.

Gormley, Beatrice Maria Mitchell: The Soul of an Astronomer. 1995, Eerdmans Publishing. A book for youngsters.

Holmes, Richard “Maria Mitchell at 200: A Pioneering Astronomer Who Fought for Women in Science” in Nature, 18 June 2018 (vol. 558, pp. 370-371): https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-018-05458-6

Kidwell, P. "Three Women of American Astronomy" in American Scientist, May/June 1990, p. 244.

Matyas, C. "Maria Mitchell: First Woman Astronomer in America" in Science Digest, Aug. 1961, vol. 50, no. 8, p. 51.

McGraw, E. “When Girls Studied Planets and the Sky Had No Limits” (from Smithsonian): https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/when-girls-studied-planets-and-the-skies-had-no-limits-180964127/

McPherson, Stephanie Rooftop Astronomer: A Story about Maria Mitchell. 1990, CarolRhoda Books. For younger children.

Opalko, J. "Maria Mitchells' Haunting Legacy" in Sky & Telescope, May 1992, p. 505.

Wright, Helen Sweeper in the Sky: The Life of Maria Mitchell. 1950, Macmillan. (Recently updated and reprinted by College Avenue Press. The original edition is on the web at: http://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/wright/sweeper/sweeper.html )

Maria Mitchell for Students (at the Maria Mitchell Association website; use the menu at left to find all the pages): https://www.mariamitchell.org/research-and-collections/maria-mitchell/for-students (This is part of a rich website with information, images, archival material: https://www.mariamitchell.org/ )

Brief biography at the Maria Mitchell House Preservation Web Site: http://www.nps.gov/history/nr/travel/pwwmh/ma74.htm

Brief Biography at Unitarian/Universalist pages: http://uudb.org/articles/mariamitchell.html

Her Entry in the Vassar Encyclopedia: http://vcencyclopedia.vassar.edu/index.php/Maria_Mitchell

An 1881 Address by Mitchell about the Collegiate Education of Women: https://iiif.lib.harvard.edu/manifests/view/drs:2575143$1i

Maria Mitchell: Life, Letters, and Journals (at Project Gutenberg): http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/10202

Short article at WGBH TV site: http://news.wgbh.org/post/meet-americas-first-woman-astronomer-maria-mitchell

_____________________________

Payne-Gaposchkin, Cecilia (1900-1979)

Armstrong, Mabel Women Astronomers: Reaching for the Stars. 2008, Stone Pine Press. This book for teens has a chapter on Payne-Gaposchkin.

Bartusiak, Marcia "The Stuff of the Stars" in The Sciences, Sep/Oct. 1993, p. 34. Excerpt on her work from Bartusiak's book, Through a Universe Darkly (1993, HarperCollins.)

Byers, Nina & Williams, Gary, eds. Out of the Shadows: Contributions of 20th Century Women to Physics. 2006, Cambridge U. Press. Includes chapter on Payne by Vera Rubin.

Gingerich, Owen “The Most Brilliant Phd Thesis Ever Written in Astronomy” in Phillip, A. & Koopman, R., eds. The Starry Universe: The Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin Centenary. 2001, L. Davis Press. Article is on the web at: http://www.harvardsquarelibrary.org/biographies/cecilia-payne-gaposchkin-3/ OR http://articles.adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-iarticle_query?2001stun.conf....3G&amp

Greenstein, George "The Ladies of Observatory Hill" inAmerican Scholar, Feb. 1993, p. 437. (Reprinted in his book Portraits of Discovery, 1998, John Wiley.)

Haramundanis, Katherine, ed.Cecilia Payne Gaposchkin: An Autobiography and Notes, 2 nd ed. 1996, Cambridge U. Press.

Hearnshaw, John The Analysis of Starlight. 1986, Cambridge U. Press. See Chapter 2.

Kidwell, Peggy "Three Women of American Astronomy" in American Scientist, May/June 1990, p. 244.

Smith, E. "Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin" in Physics Today, June 1980, p. 64.

Sobel, Dava The Glass Universe. 2016, Viking. Includes material on Payne’s early life and work.

Soter, Steven & Tyson, Neil, eds. Cosmic Horizons. 2001, New Press. See p. 75ff. (Profile excerpt at: https://www.amnh.org/explore/resource-collections/cosmic-horizons/profile-cecilia-payne-and-the-composition-of-the-stars/ )

Wayman, Patrick “Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin: Astronomer Extraordinaire” in Astronomy & Geophysics, 2002, Vol. 43, Issue 1, p. 1.27. On the web at: https://academic.oup.com/astrogeo/article/43/1/1.27/203723

Whitney, Charles "Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin: An Astronomer's Astrono­mer" in Sky & Telescope, Mar. 1980, p. 212.

Brief Obituary from the Quarterly Journal of the RAS by Owen Gingerich: http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1982QJRAS..23..450G

Two excellent articles about her at the Harvard Square Library: http://www.harvardsquarelibrary.org/biographies/cecilia-payne-gaposchkin-3/

1968 Interview by Owen Gingerich at AIP: https://www.aip.org/history-programs/niels-bohr-library/oral-histories/4620

Hoffleit, Dorrit “Reminiscences of Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin”: http://articles.adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-iarticle_query?2001stun.conf...87H&amp

Richard Williams “Cecilia Payne and the Day the Universe Changed” on the American Institute of Physics website: https://www.aps.org/publications/apsnews/201501/physicshistory.cfm

__________________________________

 

Roberts, Dorothea Klumpke (1861-1942)

Aitken, Robert "Dorothea Klumpke Roberts" in Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific, Dec. 1942, vol. 54, p. 217. On the web at: http://adsabs.harvard.edu/full/1942PASP...54..217A

Bracher, Katherine "Dorothea Klumpke Roberts: A Forgotten Astronomer" in Mercury (the magazine of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific), Sep/Oct. 1981, p. 139.

Weitzenhoffer, Kenneth "The Triumph of Dorothea Klumpke" in Sky & Telescope, Aug. 1986, p. 109.

Sobel, Dava: Brief Biography: https://www.lindahall.org/dorothea-klumpke-roberts/

About her Pioneering Balloon Flights: https://leonid.arc.nasa.gov/Klumpke.html and http://www.whiteoaks.com/jane/leonidklumpke/dorothea.txt

Dorothea Klumpke Wikipedia Entry: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dorothea_Klumpke

________________________

Roman, Nancy (1925 - 2018)

Armstrong, Mabel Women Astronomers: Reaching for the Stars. 2008, Stone Pine Press. This book for teens has a chapter on Roman.

Croswell, Ken The Alchemy of the Heavens: Searching for Meaning in the Milky Way. 1995, Doubleday. See Chapter 8.

Roman, Nancy “Following My Lucky Star” in Science, Vol. 354, Issue 6317, pp. 1346. (Part of their Working Life series.) On the web at: http://science.sciencemag.org/content/354/6317/1346

Silver, Lily “Dr. Nancy G. Roman, the Astronomer's Astronomer” in Profiles in Success: 40 Lives of Achievement. 1965, Fountainhead Publishers.

Yasuda, Anita Astronomy: Cool Women in Space. 2015, Nomad Press. She is featured in this book for kids ages 9-12.

Autobiographical Article in Astronomy Beat: https://astrosociety.org/file_download/inline/35b2af80-3d63-4222-886d-b65e42689c49

“Mother of the Hubble Space Telescope” – a 10-min 2008 Interview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b2movHF4NzA

Obituary in the New York Times, 2018: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/30/obituaries/nancy-roman-dies-at-93.html

Interview with David DeVorkin at the Center for the History of Physics from 1980: https://www.aip.org/history-programs/niels-bohr-library/oral-histories/4846

Searcy, Maureen “A Wider Scope” from the U. of Chicago: https://mag.uchicago.edu/science-medicine/wider-scope

Brief Interview at Women at NASA: https://women.nasa.gov/nancy-grace-roman-2/

5-minute video on her role in the history of the Hubble Space Telescope: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8PwJIeiZ_vI

Biographical article by Dale Debakcsy at Women You Should Know: http://womenyoushouldknow.net/nancy-roman-hubble-space-telescope/

____________________________

 

Rubin, Vera (1928 - 2016)

Bartusiak, Marcia "The Woman Who Spins the Stars" in Discover, Oct. 1990, p. 88. See also Bartusiak’s book, Through a Universe Darkly, 1993, HarperCollins, p. 202ff.

Boslaugh, John Masters of Time: Cosmology at the End of Innocence. 1992, Addison-Wesley. Chapter 2 features Rubin’s life and work.

Goldsmith, Donald The Astronomers. 1991, St. Martins. Chapter 2 profiles Vera Rubin.

Hunter, Deirdre “Vera Cooper Rubin (1928-2016)” in the Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific, Apr. 2017, vol. 129, p. 201. On line at: http://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1538-3873/aa5cc1/pdf

Irion, Robert “Vera Rubin Profile: The Bright Face Behind the Dark Sides of Galaxies” in Science, vol. 295, no. 5557, p. 960 (Feb. 8, 2002).

Isbell, Douglas & Strom, Stephen “A Talk with Vera Rubin” in Observatories of the Southwest. 2009, U. of Arizona Press.

Lightman, Alan & Brawer, Roberta "Interview with Vera Rubin" in Ori­gins. 1990, Harvard U. Press.

Rubin, Vera "Women's Work: Women in Modern Astronomy" in Science 86, Jul/Aug. 1986, p. 58.

Rubin, Vera Bright Galaxies, Dark Matters. 1997, American Institute of Physics Press. A collection of her articles, including several personal reminiscences.

Rubin, Vera “An Interesting Voyage” (an autobiographical article from Annual Reviews 2011; 30-page PDF): http://www.annualreviews.org/doi/pdf/10.1146/annurev-astro-081710-102545

Rubin, Vera “Seeing Dark Matter in the Andromeda Galaxy” in Physics Today, Dec. 2006, vol. 59, no. 12, p. 8. More technical reminiscences, also at: https://physicstoday.scitation.org/doi/10.1063/1.2435662

Scoles, S. “How Vera Rubin Discovered Dark Matter” in Astronomy, June 2016, p. 26. On line at: https://astronomy.com/news/2016/10/vera-rubin

Yeager, A. “Vera Rubin’s Universe” in Sky & Telescope, Aug. 2017, p. 36. On her life and work.

Obituary in the NY Times: https://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/27/science/vera-rubin-astronomist-who-made-the-case-for-dark-matter-dies-at-88.html

Remembering Vera website at the Carnegie Institution: https://dtm.carnegiescience.edu/remembering-vera

Sandra Faber’s Obituary Blog at Scientific American: https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/guest-blog/vera-rubins-contributions-to-astronomy/

Joe Tenn’s Bruce Medalist Profile of her: http://www.phys-astro.sonoma.edu/BruceMedalists/Rubin/index.html

Lightman, Alan “Interview with Vera Rubin” 1989, for the Center for the History of Physics: https://www.aip.org/history-programs/niels-bohr-library/oral-histories/33963 plus a 1995 interview by David DeVorkin: https://www.aip.org/history-programs/niels-bohr-library/oral-histories/5920-1

2002 Interview in Discover Magazine: http://discovermagazine.com/2002/jun/breakdialogue

She receives an honorary degree and addresses the graduates of American University in 2011: https://vimeo.com/23419815

______________________________________

Somerville, Mary (1780-1872)

Bruck, M. “Mary Somerville: Mathematician and Astronomer of Underused Talent” in Journal of the British Astronomical Association, Aug. 1996, vol. 106, p. 201. On line at: http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1996JBAA..106..201B

Chapman, Allan Mary Somerville and the World of Science. 2004, Canopus Books.

Chapman, Allan “Mary Somerville: Pioneering Pragmatist” in Astronomy & Geophysics, Apr. 2016. On line at: https://academic.oup.com/astrogeo/article/57/2/2.10/2468642

Neeley, Kathryn Mary Somerville: Science, Illumination, and the Female Mind. 2001, Cambridge University Press.

Patterson, E. "Mary Somerville" in British Journal for the History of Science, vol. 4, p. 311 (1969). Long profile.

Secord, J. “Mary Somerville’s Vision of Science” in Physics Today, Jan. 2018, p. 46. Detailed article on her life and work. On line at: https://physicstoday.scitation.org/doi/10.1063/PT.3.3817

Strickland, Elisabetta The Ascent of Mary Somerville in 19th Century Society, 2016, Springer.

Strickland, Elisabetta “Mary Fairfax Somerville, Queen of Science” in Notices of the American Mathematical Society, Sep. 2017. On line at: http://www.ams.org/publications/journals/notices/201708/rnoti-p929.pdf

Weitzenhoffer, Kenneth "The Education of Mary Somerville" in Sky & Telescope, Feb. 1987, p. 138.

Wills, Mathew “Mary Somerville, Queen of 19th Century Science” in JSTOR Daily: https://daily.jstor.org/mary-somerville-queen-of-19th-century-science/

Biography at Mac Tutor: http://www-history.mcs.st-andrews.ac.uk/Biographies/Somerville.html

From Biographies of Women Mathematicians: http://www.agnesscott.edu/lriddle/women/somer.htm

Brief Biography at Burntisland Site: http://www.burntisland.net/mabon.htm

Biography on Women In European History site: http://womenineuropeanhistory.org/index.php?title=Mary_Somerville

BBC Radio Program about her, with Allan Chapman (audio): http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/science/thematerialworld_20040826.shtml

Interesting essay by Paula Gould from Science, wondering if her life story (and Caroline Herschel’s) has been whitewashed by history: http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/sci;296/5574/1805

Kelly, Erin: “Mary Somerville: The Woman for Whom the Word ‘Scientist’ Was Made”: http://all-that-is-interesting.com/mary-somerville

Obituary in the London Times: http://www-history.mcs.st-andrews.ac.uk/Obits/Somerville.html

A book of recollections by her daughter, Personal Recollections, from Early Life to Old Age, of Mary Somerville is available on line from Project Gutenberg: http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/27747

An annotated version of her 1831 book Mechanism of the Heavens is on line at: http://www.malaspina.com/etext/heavens.htm

___________________________

 

Tinsley, Beatrice (1941-1981)

Armstrong, Mabel Women Astronomers: Reaching for the Stars. 2008, Stone Pine Press. This book for teens has a chapter on Tinsley.

Eisberg, Joann “Making a Science of Observational Cosmology: The Cautious Optimism of Beatrice Tinsley” in Journal for the History of Astronomy, vol. 32, p. 264 (2001). On the web at: http://articles.adsabs.harvard.edu/pdf/2001JHA....32..263E

Faber, Sandra "Beatrice Tinsley" in Physics Today, vol. 34, p. 110 (Sept. 1981). On the web at: http://physicstoday.scitation.org/doi/10.1063/1.2914734 (hit the ‘next’ button to see the second page)

Hill, Edward My Daughter Beatrice. 1986, American Physical Society.

Larson, R. & Stryker, L. “Beatrice Hill Tinsley” in Quarterly Journal of the Royal Astronomical Society, vol. 23, p. 162 (1982).

Overbye, Dennis “Overlooked No More: Beatrice Tinsley” in the New York Times, July 18, 2018: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/18/obituaries/overlooked-beatrice-tinsley-astronomer.html

Trimble, Virginia “Beatrice Tinsley” in Visit to a Small Universe. 1992, American Institute of Physics Press.

Biography at New Zealand Edge page: http://www.nzedge.com/legends/beatrice-tinsley/

Biography by Michele Nichols on Carleton College site: https://web.archive.org/web/20120207203823/http://www.carleton.edu/departments/PHAS/astro/pages/michele/tinsley.html

Paper about her life and work by Margaret Turner: http://freepages.misc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~mturner/women/bmt.htm

Fu, Lara “This Astronomer Had to Make the Hardest Career Choice” at: https://www.aauw.org/2014/07/16/beatrice-tinsley/

Biography by J. Renee Fernanders: https://jvrf.wordpress.com/beatrice-tinsley-biography/

Brief video about Tinsley by U. of Nottingham astronomer Meghan Gray: http://www.deepskyvideos.com/videos/other/beatrice_tinsley.html

American Institute of Physics oral interview by David DeVorkin: https://www.aip.org/history-programs/niels-bohr-library/oral-histories/4914

Hoar, Stuart (a New Zealand playwright): Bright Star (a play about the work and life of Tinsley): http://www.playmarket.org.nz/playwrights/stuart-hoar


4. Material on Some Living Astronomers who are Women

Batalha, Natalie (1966 –

Kaufman, Marc “The Very Influential Natalie Batalha”: http://www.manyworlds.space/index.php/2017/04/24/the-influential-natalie-batalha/

Interview with Susan Niebur on the Women in Planetary Science website: https://womeninplanetaryscience.wordpress.com/2010/07/06/women-in-exoplanets-meet-natalie%C2%A0batalha/

2013 Interview on the NPR show “On Being”: transcript at: https://onbeing.org/programs/natalie-batalha-exoplanets-and-love-science-that-connects-us-to-one-another/

2017 News Release on Her Being Named one of the 100 Most Influential People in the World: https://news.ucsc.edu/2017/06/batalha-natalie-time-100.html

Interview on Science Friday, on NPR, May 2016 (13 min): https://www.sciencefriday.com/segments/a-bounty-of-planets-in-a-tiny-patch-of-space/

Her 2012 talk in the Silicon Valley Astronomy Lectures: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZbijeR_AALo&t=8s

Her 2017 talk in the Silicon Valley Astronomy Lectures: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e2Q1iBgEKbU&t=2575s

Kwok, Roberta “The Stars Her Destination” (a short 2008 profile from the Berkeley Alumni Magazine): http://alumni.berkeley.edu/news/california-magazine/november-december-2008-stars-berkeley/stars-her-destination

________________________________

Bell Burnell, Jocelyn (1943 - )

Bell Burnell, Jocelyn "Little Green Men, White Dwarfs, or What?" in Sky & Telescope, Mar. 1978, p. 218.

Bell Burnell, Jocelyn “So Few Pulsars, So Few Females” in Science, 23 April 2004, vol. 304. no. 5670, p. 489. (On line at: http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/summary/304/5670/489 )

Byers, Nina & Williams, Gary, eds. Out of the Shadows: Contributions of 20th Century Women to Physics. 2006, Cambridge U. Press. Includes a chapter on Bell Burnell.

Levin, Janna Black Hole Blues and Other Songs from Outer Space. 2016, Knopf. Has a section of her work on pulsars.

Reed G. "The Discovery of Pulsars: Was Credit Given Where it was Due?" in Astronomy, Dec. 1983, p. 24.

Wade, N. "Discovery of Pulsars: A Graduate Student's Story" in Science, Aug. 1, 1975, p. 358. On line at: https://science.sciencemag.org/content/189/4200/358.long (but you will need privileges from your library to read the entire piece.)

Interview on BBC with Jim Al-Khalili (30 min): http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b016812j

Interview at the 2015 Edinburgh Science Festival by Andy Cohen: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DCPereT6XxU

Her TED talk, “Reflections on Women in Science”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jp7amRdr30Y&t=33s

Podcasts of three talks she gave at Oxford: https://podcasts.ox.ac.uk/people/jocelyn-bell-burnell

Irish Times article: “The Woman who Discovered the Lighthouses of the Universe”: https://www.irishtimes.com/news/science/irishwoman-who-discovered-the-lighthouses-of-the-universe-1.443538

Transcript of an Interview on the BBC Program Belief (both about her religious view and her science): https://web.archive.org/web/20101109151056/http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/programmes/belief/scripts/jocelyn_bell_burnell.html

DeVorkin, D. “Interview with Jocelyn Bell Burnell” (American Institute of Physics): https://www.aip.org/history-programs/niels-bohr-library/oral-histories/31792

BBC collection of video clips featuring her: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00ry9jq/clips

Royal Institution (Public) Discourse in 1997 (“Tick Tick Tick Pulsating Star”) by Bell Burnell: http://www.vega.org.uk/video/programme/69 (a video)

Interview in Discover Magazine, Nov. 2009 by Douglas Colligan: http://discovermagazine.com/2009/nov/29-discover-interview-miles-wire-reams-paper-giant-discovery

1977 After-dinner Speech about her Discovery of Pulsars (text): http://www.bigear.org/vol1no1/burnell.htm

__________________________

 

Danly, Laura (1958 - )

Interview for Physics Today (2015): http://physicstoday.scitation.org/do/10.1063/PT.5.9044/full/

Videos at Roadtrip Nation: http://roadtripnation.com/leader/laura-danly

Q&A 2012 at the L.A. Observed site: http://www.laobserved.com/archive/2012/04/qa_with_griffith_observat.php

Her public interest video on soil health: http://www.merlofarminggroup.com/astronomer-dr-laura-danly-soil-health

“To Fathom the Frontier”: Post-eclipse talk (2017) from Jackson Hole: Video at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kDh81Xt1c04

Interview in the Inspirational Women Talk to Teens Series: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DZH9PQVIJso

_____________________________

Faber, Sandra (1944 - )

Dressler, Alan Voyage to the Great Attractor. 1994, Knopf. Story of how we learned to explore the large-scale structure of the realm of the galaxies, focusing on the astronomers who call themselves the “Seven Samurai” (of which Faber is one).

Lemonick, Michael The Light at the Edge of the Universe. 1993, Villard/Random House. See especially Chapter 6.

Lightman, Alan & Brawer, Roberta "Interview with Sandra Faber" in Ori­gins. 1990, Harvard U. Press.

Her Web Page at Lick Observatory: http://www.ucolick.org/~faber/

Interview with Alan Lightman for the Center for the History of Physics 1988: https://www.aip.org/history-programs/niels-bohr-library/oral-histories/33932

Her page at the “Bruce Medalists” site: http://www.phys-astro.sonoma.edu/BruceMedalists/Faber/index.html

News Release on her Gruber Cosmology Prize: https://aas.org/posts/news/2017/05/sandra-faber-receives-500000-gruber-cosmology-prize

Her talk on “How Galaxies Were Cooked from the Primordial Soup” in the Silicon Valley Astronomy Lectures: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wqNNCm7SNyw

2009 Interview at Annual Reviews Audio (transcription): http://www.annualreviews.org/userimages/ContentEditor/1299600853298/SandraFaberInterviewTranscript.pdf

Interview with Melanie Fine at the Rocket Girls site: http://rocketgirls.com/interview-with-astronomer-sandra-faber/

Short video about her work on the Hubble: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Goe8vRNxiIM

Interview on the Planetary Radio podcast: http://www.planetary.org/multimedia/planetary-radio/show/2017/0705-sandra-faber.html

2016 Public Talk at the Space Telescope Science Institute: “Cosmic Knowledge and the Long-term Strategy of the Human Race”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4MBsBChHsQY

___________________________

Fischer, Debra (1953 - )

Naeye, Robert “Unlocking New Worlds” in Astronomy, Nov. 2002, p. 48. A profile and discussion of her work.

Debra Fischer’s professional page at Yale: http://exoplanets.astro.yale.edu/people/dfischer.php

Profile at ScienceLine 2017: http://scienceline.org/2017/01/breaking-limits-science-life/

2010 Profile from Radcliffe Magazine: https://www.radcliffe.harvard.edu/news/radcliffe-magazine/debra-fischers-quest-new-planets

Interview at the Woman Astronomer site (2008): http://www.womanastronomer.com/dfischer.htm

Her page at the Planetary Society, with link to a radio interview: http://www.planetary.org/connect/our-experts/profiles/debra-fischer.html

2015 Interview with the Editor of Astronomy Magazine: http://www.astronomy.com/magazine/superstars-of-astronomy-podcast/2015/04/debra-fischer-all-about-exoplanets

2016 Wired magazine article about her work: https://www.wired.com/2016/10/meet-next-generation-exoplanet-hunters/

“Searching for Other Earths” 2013 public lecture at Yale: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fomk3IakRQ0

_____________________________

Freedman, Wendy (1957 - )

Armstrong, Mabel Women Astronomers: Reaching for the Stars. 2008, Stone Pine Press. This book for teens has a chapter on Freedman.

Ferguson, Kitty Measuring the Universe. 1999, Walker. Chronicle of how distances were found in the universe, with good discussions of contributions by individual astronomers.

Mozel, Philip “A Moment with Wendy Freedman” 2004, Journal of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada, vol. 98, # 3, p. 135. On the web at: http://articles.adsabs.harvard.edu/full/2004JRASC..98..135M

Sokol, Joshua “A recharged debate over the speed of the expansion of the universe could lead to new physics” on Science magazine’s web pages (Mar. 2017): http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2017/03/recharged-debate-over-speed-expansion-universe-could-lead-new-physics

Stephens, Sally “Hubble Warrior” in Astronomy, March 2000, p. 52. Profile of her work trying to find the Hubble constant and other cosmological parameters.

Her faculty page at the U. of Chicago: https://astro.uchicago.edu/people/wendy-l-freedman.php#research-person

2014 News Release when she joined the U. of Chicago: https://news.uchicago.edu/article/2014/08/07/wendy-freedman-world-leading-astronomer-joins-uchicago-faculty

TED Talks Page: https://www.ted.com/speakers/wendy_freedman

Interview from April 2004, at the National Academy of Sciences (about her life and work): http://www.nasonline.org/news-and-multimedia/podcasts/interviews/wendy-l-freedman.html

Cosmologist Michael Turner interviews her for a TEDX Evening in 2016: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LHsL-M6Tz9g

2011 Interview with Michael Shara at the American Museum of Natural History: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=90lYIU1Stlo

Brief Profile for the 2009 Gruber Prize: http://gruber.yale.edu/cosmology/2009/wendy-l-freedman

Her page and contributions at Huffington Post: https://www.huffpost.com/author/wendy-l-freedman

__________________________

Geller, Margaret (1947 - )

Armstrong, Mabel Women Astronomers: Reaching for the Stars. 2008, Stone Pine Press. This book for teens has a chapter on Geller.

Chaikin, Andrew “Surveyor of the Universe” in Air & Space, Aug/Sept. 1991; vol. 6, p. 84.

Geller, Margaret. “The Big Picture” in Natural History, Feb. 2000, vol. 109, p. 74.

Geller, Margaret “The Black Ribbon” (essay on science and society) in Science, 28 Aug 1998:
Vol. 281, Issue 5381, pp. 1278-1279. On the web at: http://www.scienceonline.org/cgi/content/full/281/5381/1278

Goldsmith, Donald The Astronomers. 1991, St. Martin's Press. The chapter entitled "Mapping the Universe" profiles Geller's life and work.

Greenstein, George Portraits of Discovery. 1998, John Wiley. Chapter 8 of this collection of biographical articles is about Margaret Geller and John Huchra.

Lawler, Andrew “Margaret Geller: Battling Discrimination or Bureaucracy?” in Science, 12 November 1999; vol. 286. no. 5443, p. 1277. On the web at: http://www.sciencemag.org/careers/1999/11/margaret-geller-battling-discrimination-or-bureaucracy

Lightman, Alan & Brawer, Roberta "Interview with Margaret Geller" in Ori­gins. 1990, Harvard U. Press.

Overbye, Dennis Lonely Hearts of the Cosmos. 1992, HarperCollins. See Chapter 19.

Taubes, Gary “Beyond the Soapsuds Universe” in Discover, Aug. 1997. On the web at: http://discovermagazine.com/1997/aug/beyondthesoapsud1197

Wiley, John “Margaret Geller: Star Mapper” in Astronomy, Nov. 2000; vol. 28. p. 104.

Her web page at Smithsonian: http://cfa-www.harvard.edu/~mjg/

Her MacArthur Foundation “Genius Award” Page: https://www.macfound.org/fellows/394/

Text of her 1995 Phi Beta Kappa Address at Harvard “Sense of Wonder”: http://gos.sbc.edu/g/geller.html (Listed by NPR as one of the best commencement speeches ever: https://apps.npr.org/commencement/speech/margaret-j-geller-harvard-university-1995/ )

Her 2010 Chautauqua Lecture on astronomical photography “Click! The Universe”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kTKGQzWa6yM

2013 interview when she won the APS Lillienfeld Prize (6 min): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8c3lM8v68Hw

___________________________

Ghez, Andrea (1965 - )

Finkbeiner, Ann “Astronomy: Star Tracker” in Nature, vol. 495, pp. 296–298 (21 March 2013). On the web at: https://www.nature.com/news/astronomy-star-tracker-1.12622

Ghez, Andrea & Cohen, Judith You Can Be a Woman Astronomer. 2006, Cascade Press. A picture book for children grades 3 – 5; includes a discussion of her own beginnings.

Lewis, Hilton “How Andrea Ghez Won the Nobel for an Experiment Nobody Thought Would Work” on the Scientific American website: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-andrea-ghez-won-the-nobel-for-an-experiment-nobody-thought-would-work/

Sokol, Joshua “The Black Hole Hunter Peering into the Heart of Our Galaxy” (2017, Atlantic Magazine). On the web at: https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2017/07/andrea-ghez-black-hole-hunter/535296/

Yasuda, Anita Astronomy: Cool Women in Space. 2015, Nomad Press. She is featured in this book for kids ages 9-12.

Her web page at UCLA: http://www.astro.ucla.edu/~ghez/

Her Nobel Prize Lecture in 2020: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wGw6_CdvGKM

Interview at the U. of Chicago website about her high school days and winning the Nobel Prize: https://news.uchicago.edu/story/astronomer-andrea-ghez-responsibility-comes-nobel-prize

“The Monster Black Hole at the Center of the Milky Way,” her 2017 talk in the Silicon Valley Astronomy Lectures: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dv1igzE-aX4&t=359s

2017 UCLA Student Video where she is asked 37 questions in 6 minutes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o-Tnc3CUsEM

Her 2009 Lecture at TED: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c8re1U9rCo4 OR http://www.ted.com/talks/andrea_ghez_the_hunt_for_a_supermassive_black_hole.html

Sky & Telescope website pieces about her work: http://www.skyandtelescope.com/astronomy-news/star-zips-around-black-hole/ AND http://www.skyandtelescope.com/astronomy-news/milky-ways-central-monster-measured/

“Andrea Ghez: Puzzle Solver” at StarDate’s black hole encyclopedia (interview): http://blackholes.stardate.org/research/ghez-interview.php.html

Her MacArthur Foundation “Genius Prize” page: https://www.macfound.org/fellows/798/

Interview with her for the PBS TV Show NOVA in 2006: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/blackhole/explorer.html

__________________________

Hammel, Heidi (1960 - )

Bortz, Fred: Beyond Jupiter: The Story of Planetary Astronomer Heidi Hammel (2005, Franklin Watts/Scholastic & Joseph Henry Press). A colorful profile of Hammel as a person and scientists, written for teenagers (but enjoyable reading for everyone.)

Flanagan, R. “Observer of the Gas Giants” in Astronomy, July 1997, p. 50.

Brief 2010 interview on the Women in Planetary Science site: https://womeninplanetaryscience.wordpress.com/2010/09/30/heidi-hammel-ask-for-help-when-you-need-it/

2008 interview in The New York Times: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/02/science/02conv.html

Her Planetary Society page with posts and radio show appearance: http://www.planetary.org/about/board-of-directors/heidi-hammel.html

Her answers to frequently asked questions at the site for the kids’ book about her: http://www.fredbortz.com/HammelBio/AstroFAQ.htm

2016 podcast with the editor of Astronomy magazine: http://www.astronomy.com/magazine/superstars-of-astronomy-podcast/2016/04/heidi-hammel

An hour interview of Minnesota Public Radio about the successor telescope to the Hubble and her work: http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2008/03/05/midmorning2/

Some brief reminiscences by her brother: http://everything2.com/index.pl?node_id=1373765

Interview in Newsweek, Nov. 26, 2007: http://www.newsweek.com/id/70975

Her page at the James Webb Space Telescope website: https://jwst.nasa.gov/meet-hammel.html

_____________________________

Luu, Jane (1963 - )

Bartusiak, Marcia “The Remarkable Odyssey of Jane Luu” in Astronomy, Feb. 1996, p. 46.

Davies, John Beyond Pluto: Exploring the Outer Limits of the Solar System. Chapter 4 features Luu’s life and work.

Flamsteed, Sam “"Where Comets Come from - Hubble Space Telescope Provides Evidence for Kuiper Belt" in Discover, Nov. 1995. On-line: http://discovermagazine.com/1995/nov/wherecometscomef583 (Includes some material about her life and early work.)

Interview from 2003 (with a lot of biographical information) at Imagiverse Site: http://www.imagiverse.org/interviews/janeluu/jane_luu_21_03_03.htm

Brief autobiography at the Shaw Prize site: http://shawprize.org/en/shaw.php?tmp=3&twoid=92&threeid=208&fourid=348&fiveid=170

Career profile at the Science magazine site: http://www.sciencemag.org/careers/2012/10/no-starry-eyed-astronomer

Transcript of her Kavli Prize talk: http://www.kavliprize.org/sites/default/files/Jane_Luu_manuscript.pdf

Brief 2012 video of her and David Jewitt’s Shaw Prize lecture: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ypKWDKWRzyY

2012 Talk to the Rosalind Franklin Society on the Kuiper Belt (with some personal memories): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I5pnR002y6k

_________________________

Lopes, Rosaly (1957 - )

Her page at JPL Science: https://science.jpl.nasa.gov/people/Lopes/

Biography and interview in Volcano World): http://volcanoworld.wordpress.com/2011/12/19/rosaly-lopes/

Discusses her work on “Through the Eyes of Scientists” (3 min, 2011): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ntCPur1SQ4Y

Shalby, Colleen “Rosaly Lopes and the Enigmatic Workings of Volcanoes” at the AAAS website: https://www.aaas.org/rosaly-lopes-and-enigmatic-workings-volcanoes

“To Understand Volcanoes on Other Worlds, Stand on our Own” in Quanta Magazine: https://www.quantamagazine.org/to-understand-volcanoes-on-other-worlds-stand-on-our-own-20180828/

Lopes, R. & Carroll, M. Alien Volcanoes. 2008, Johns Hopkins U. Press.

_________________________

Max, Claire (1946 - )

Her page at the University of California Observatories: http://www.ucolick.org/~max/

Article on her receiving the 2004 E.O. Lawrence Award: http://currents.ucsc.edu/04-05/09-27/max_award.asp

3-minute video with Freeman Dyson describing her role in the rise of adaptive optics: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ntfOaqKHFU

Finkbeiner, Ann “Astronomy: Laser Focus” in Nature, 21 Jan 2015. (Claire Max has transformed the capabilities of telescopes.) On the web at: https://www.nature.com/news/astronomy-laser-focus-1.16741

2015 News Release on being appointed Director of the U. of California Observatories: https://news.ucsc.edu/2015/08/uco-director.html

A Basic Tutorial on Adaptive Optics (2012): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4VWFcy6_Ij8

Max, Claire: “A Sharper Image” talk in the Silicon Valley Astronomy Lectures: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=stAGLke6XDU&t=84s

________________________________

Norman, Dara (1970 - )

Her moving talk at the June 2020 American Astronomical Society meeting on “The Inclusion Revolution”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rQDzeDuCLLs

Meet the Keynote Speaker feature from Astrobites (related to the above talk): https://astrobites.org/2020/05/25/meet-the-keynote-speakers-dara-norman/

Parks, Clinton “Dara Norman: Astronomer and Astronomy Enabler” on the Sky & Telescope website: https://skyandtelescope.org/astronomy-resources/famous-astronomers/dara-norman-astronomer-and-astronomy-enabler/

Her Wikipedia Page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dara_Norman

Norman, Dara “Can Big Data Lead to an Inclusion Revolution” in Astronomy Beat, July 2018: https://astrosociety.org/file_download/inline/12faca89-b5f4-4e59-aa62-ce7ad5add47c

________________________________

Porco, Carolyn (1953 - )

Overbye, Dennis “An Odyssey from the Bronx to Saturn’s Rings” (a Sep. 21, 2009 New York Times profile): http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/22/science/space/22prof.html

Porco, Carolyn “Cassini at Saturn” in Scientific American, Oct. 2017. On the web at: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/cassini-at-saturn-a-retrospective/

Porco, Carolyn “A Week in the Life of CP” in The Wall Street Journal, Feb. 10, 2016. On the web at: http://carolynporco.com/in-the-news/popular-writings/week-in-the-life-of-carolyn-porco-wsj.html

Her biography at her website: http://carolynporco.com/about/biography/

Her biography on the Edge website: http://www.edge.org/3rd_culture/bios/porco.html

1999 Profile in the New York Times: http://www.nytimes.com/library/national/science/081799sci-nasa-cassini-2.html

2005 Profile by Bjorn Carey: http://www.cnn.com/2005/TECH/space/02/15/saturn.astronomer/index.html

Her talk on Cassini at the Silicon Valley Astronomy Lectures (2015): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vx135n8VFxY

Her entry at the Encyclopedia of World Biography: https://www.notablebiographies.com/newsmakers2/2005-La-Pr/Porco-Carolyn.html

Her talk to the TED Conference (Mar. 2007): http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/carolyn_porco_flies_us_to_saturn.html

2014 Appearance on StarTalk with Neil Tyson: https://www.startalkradio.net/show/madame-saturn-a-conversation-with-carolyn-porco-part-1/

2017 Article about Her and Space Images at Time.com: http://time.com/4894102/voyager-anniversary-photos/

__________________________________

Sargent, Anneila (1942 - )

Gallagher, Paul “Anneila Sargent: The Woman from Fife who Advises the White House” in The Independent, Apr. 13, 2013: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/profiles/anneila-sargent-the-woman-from-fife-who-advises-the-white-house-8572137.html

Goldsmith, Donald The Astronomers. 1991, St. Martin’s Press. See Chapter 12 of this book, which focuses on the work of a few astronomers at the frontiers of science.

Sommerville, Iain “From Burtisland to the Outer Limits: The Journey of Anneila Cassells [Sargent]” (mostly about her early life): http://www.burntisland.net/sargent.htm

Her page at Caltech: http://www.astro.caltech.edu/people/faculty/Anneila_Sargent.html

Her 2015 talk in Edinburgh on “Make it Happen: Women into Science” (with a bit about her own career): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TnA-L1FVYz8

2017 Profile in the Courier (a UK Newspaper): https://www.thecourier.co.uk/fp/news/local/fife/176569/fife-born-professor-anneila-sargent-superstar-american-astronomy/

______________________________

Seager, Sara (1971 - )

Jones, Chris “The Woman Who Might Find Us Another Earth” in New York Times Magazine, Dec. 7, 2016. On the web at: https://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/07/magazine/the-world-sees-me-as-the-one-who-will-find-another-earth.html

Powell, Corey “Sara Seager’s Tenacious Drive to Discover Another Earth” in Smithsonian, May 2014. On the web at: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/driven-make-most-her-time-planet-mit-astronomer-has-set-audacious-goal-180951174/

Seager, Sara “So Many Exoplanets, So Few Women Astronomers” (an article in the Huffington Post Jan. 2013 about the hardship that constant travel imposes on women scientists with small children): http://www.huffingtonpost.com/sara-seager/women-in-science_b_2471980.html

Seager, Sara Is There Life Out There: The Search for Habitable Exoplanets (her 48-page, 2009, self-published popular-level intro, as a free PDF): https://www.saraseager.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/book-is-there-life-out-there.pdf

Her website: https://www.saraseager.com/

Short Profile at AAAS website: http://membercentral.aaas.org/blogs/member-spotlight/sara-seagers-search-earth-planets

Brief 2017 Interview on Women in Astronomy site: http://womeninastronomy.blogspot.com/2017/01/meet-your-cswa-sara-seager.html

2017 Talk at Google “Mapping Nearby Stars for Habitable Exoplanets”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jyfCukKVjC0

Interview at Space.com 2013 on the Drake Equation: https://www.space.com/22648-drake-equation-alien-life-seager.html?cid=51463011558824

Interview at the Physics Today site Feb. 2019: https://physicstoday.scitation.org/do/10.1063/PT.6.4.20190227a/full/

2015 TED Talk on the Search for Life on Other Earths: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qAYqK9lAxic

2013 TED Talk on the Search for Real Alien Life: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NnM4SaGc8R0

2015 Interview at MIT’s Infinite History Project (with reminiscences about her own life): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3O9nvqn1iLs

2016 Nature Video “Back to the Thesis” (asks her to review what events led to her thesis): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fk9VdAXeZiY

10 Tips for Undergraduate Women Science Students (from Astronomer Sara Seager): http://www.usnews.com/education/blogs/professors-guide/2010/08/11/10-tips-for-women-students-in-science-fields

_____________________________

Shields, Aomawa (1975- )

Interview at Astronomy in Color: http://astronomyincolor.blogspot.com/2016/09/faculty-highlight-aomawa-shields.html

Her Wikipedia page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aomawa_Shields

Her rich personal website:https://variablestargirl.com/

Her faculty website at UC Irvine: https://faculty.sites.uci.edu/shields/

Interview at University of California News: https://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/news/astrobiology-s-rising-star

2015 TED Talk on Finding Other Planets: https://www.ted.com/talks/aomawa_shields_how_we_ll_find_life_on_other_planets

She has started an organization called Rising Stargirls to encourage girls of all color and backgrounds to learn science through astronomy: http://www.risingstargirls.org/

Brief NOVA segment on her career path: https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=253867345266434&t=13

_______________________________

Shoemaker, Carolyn (1929 - )

Armstrong, Mabel Women Astronomers: Reaching for the Stars. 2008, Stone Pine Press. This book for teens has a chapter on Shoemaker.

Levy, David "Star Trails: Carolyn Shoemaker" in Sky & Telescope, June 1991, p. 658.

Levy, David Shoemaker by Levy: The Man who Made an Impact. 2000, Princeton U. Press. Biography of Eugene Shoemaker, but with much information about Carolyn’s work.

Preston, Richard First Light. 1987, Atlantic Monthly Press. Section 2 is a profile of the Shoemakers.

Reeves, R. "Interview with Gene and Carolyn Shoemaker: Meteor Crater to Palomar" in Astronomy, June 1993, p. 13.

Shoemaker, Carolyn “Ups and Downs in Planetary Astronomy” in Annual Reviews of Earth and Planetary Science, vol. 27, p. 1 (1999). Reminiscences about her career.

Biography at USGS Page: https://astrogeology.usgs.gov/people/carolyn-shoemaker

1994 Article from New Scientist, with history and reactions to the discover of Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9: http://www.bibliotecapleyades.net/esp_shoemaker_a.htm

Brief Biography at the Harcourt School Site: http://www.harcourtschool.com/activity/biographies_science/shoemaker/

Her 1998 Essay from Science Magazine on Space Exploration (with some thoughts about her own life and work): http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/282/5394/1637

2-min video with advice for young women going into astronomy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_AADENDV2Z8

Page about her and her story about her husband, at Story Corps: https://storycorps.org/stories/carolyn-shoemaker-and-phred-salazar-160708/

_____________________________

Stofan, Ellen (1961 - )
 

Stofan, E. “Venus: The Way We Might Have Been” in Stern, S.A., ed. Our Worlds: The Magnetism and Thrill of Planetary Exploration. 1999, Cambridge U. Press; pp. 31-45. Combines a discussion of the exploration of Venus with autobiographical information on her development as a scientist.

Her page when she was Chief Scientist at NASA: https://www.nasa.gov/offices/ocs/stofan_bio.html

Jan. 2017 Christian Science Monitor story about her resignation as Chief Scientist: https://www.csmonitor.com/Science/Spacebound/2017/0104/Why-is-chief-NASA-scientist-Ellen-Stofan-stepping-down (Also a story in Wired: https://www.wired.com/2017/01/dont-turn-earth-venus-warns-nasa-ex-chief-scientist-ellen-stofan/ )

Apr. 2017 story about her at Motherboard: https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/538xwa/ellen-stofan-former-nasa-chief-scientist

Her 2013 Interview at SpaceNews: http://spacenews.com/37599profile-ellen-stofan-nasa-chief-scientist/

Her talk on Mars Exploration at the Royal Institution: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=20ufMGhA2e0

Announcement of her becoming Director of the Air and Space Museum, 2018: https://www.space.com/40257-ellen-stofan-national-air-space-museum.html

“Lecture on Exploring Titan by Boat” (at the Denver Museum of Natural History 2012, 1 hr, 18 min): http://vimeo.com/44046816

JPL Podcast with Slides on YouTube (about lakes on Titan): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0PP5hSbwHXQ (Transcript at: http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/podcasting/jpl-cassini-20070103.html )

News announcement being named NASA Chief Scientist, July 2013: http://www.nasa.gov/press/2013/july/nasa-welcomes-new-chief-scientist/#.UfbSwo3CZ8E

Video where she explains a proposed mission to study the lakes of Titan; a bit technical (2011, 9 min): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xkYIdhvdyWU

______________________________

Tarter, Jill (1944 - )

Armstrong, Mabel Women Astronomers: Reaching for the Stars. 2008, Stone Pine Press. This book for teens has a chapter on Tarter.

Drake, Frank & Sobel, Dava Is Anyone Out There? 1992, Delacorte/Bantam. Page 152 ff. Has a number of discussions of Tarter’s life and work, especially in Chapters 7 & 10.

Ferron, Karri “Brief Interview with Jill Tarter” in Astronomy, Dec. 2009, p. 10.

Hayes, Jacqui “Silent Witness (profile of Jill Tarter)” in Cosmos magazine, Apr. 2010. On web at: https://web.archive.org/web/20100801135435/http://www.cosmosmagazine.com/features/print/3593/silent-witness

Jackson, Ellen Looking for Life in the Universe: The Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence. 2005, Houghton Mifflin. A profile of Tarter and her work for young people in grades 4-8.

Lubick, N. “An Ear to the Stars” in Scientific American, Nov. 2002, p. 42. A brief profile of Tarter and her SETI work.

Scoles, Sarah Making Contact: Jill Tarter and the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence. 2017, Pegasus. A popular-level book with the story of her life and work.

Swift, David "Interview with Jill Tarter" in SETI Pioneers. 1990, U. of Arizona Press.

Brief 2004 Profile on CNN Site: http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/americas/04/15/tarter/index.html

2017 Interview on the KQED Forum program about her work: https://ww2.kqed.org/forum/2017/07/18/pioneering-astronomer-jill-tarter-on-making-contact-with-alien-life/

“Will the 21st Century be the Time we Discover Life Beyond Earth?” Her 2017 talk in the Silicon Valley Astronomy Lectures: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wYcM0BOYHyw

Interview at the U. of Washington in 2015 (37 min): https://www.washington.edu/alumni/at-length-with-jill-cornell-tarter/

Her TED Prize lecture (2009): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EszGIvRdgTE

Nov. 2007 Interview for the KQED TV show Quest: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QwEm3WHvNHI

The Search for Cosmic Company (her 2011 TEDX Talk at USC): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6DmpJoEmyZs

2012 Talk on “The World We Dream”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4EABW8WVTV0

2012 Interview at Space.com: https://www.space.com/15803-jill-tarter-seti-search-retirement-qanda.html

___________________________________

 

Trimble, Virginia (1943 - )

Feder, Toni “Q&A: Virginia Trimble on Fifty Plus Years in Astronomy” for Physics Today, 2018: https://physicstoday.scitation.org/action/showDoPubSecure?doi=10.1063/PT.6.4.20180313a&format=full

Scoles, Sara “The Woman Who Knows Everything about the Universe” in Wired magazine, 2018: https://www.wired.com/story/the-woman-who-knows-everything-about-the-universe/

Trimble, Virginia Visit to a Small Universe. 1992, American Institute of Physics Press. A collection of her articles, including several that bear on her own life and work.

Trimble, V. “Affirmative Action and Women in Science” in The Scientist, Sep. 1996: https://www.the-scientist.com/?articles.view/articleNo/18033/title/Affirmative-Action-And-Women-In-Science--Post-Hoc--Ergo-Propter-Hoc-/

Trimble, V. “Anybody But Hubble” (After-dinner talk on who discovered the expansion of the universe): https://arxiv.org/ftp/arxiv/papers/1307/1307.2289.pdf

Her page at U. of California, Irvine: https://www.faculty.uci.edu/profile.cfm?faculty_id=3060

Interview on the “Science and Society” podcast: http://www.scienceandsociety.net/audio/trimble.mp3

Transcript of a brief interview about telescopes (with a bit about her life) on ABC: http://www.abc.net.au/rn/scienceshow/stories/2000/148938.htm

Her “Top 10” lists for the astronomy of the past and future: http://www.aps.org/publications/apsnews/200010/astronomy.cfm

Honors from the AAS and the IAU: https://aas.org/posts/news/2018/02/virginia-trimble-honored-aas-and-iau

____________________

Wolff, Sidney (1941 - )

Waldrop, Mitchell “New Director Named for Kitt Peak” in Science, vol. 224, p. 265 (Apr. 20, 1984).

Wolff, Sidney The Boundless Universe: Astronomy in the New Age of Discovery. 2016, Rio Nuevo. An illustrated, popular-level introduction to observatories, telescopes, and their discoveries.

Wolff, Sidney, et al. Astronomy. 2016, OpenStax. A free open-source introductory astronomy textbook on which she is one of the three lead authors. http://openstax.org/details/astronomy

Wolff, Sidney “Cautions for Astronomy’s Golden Age” (partly autobiographical reflections, 1987): http://www.the-scientist.com/?articles.view/articleNo/9063/title/Cautions-for-Astronomy-s-Golden-Age/

Announcement of her AAS Education Prize: http://www.noao.edu/outreach/press/pr06/pr0605.html

Her speech for the 100th anniversary of the American Astronomical Society (pdf file): https://aas.org/archives/BAAS/v32n2/wolff.pdf

Oral History Interview at the American Institute of Physics: https://www.aip.org/history-programs/niels-bohr-library/oral-histories/23363-1

Announcement of a vista point at the Cerro Tololo Interamerican Observatory being named for her: https://www.noao.edu/news/2010/pr1001.php

Her 2013 talk at York High School, where she was once a student: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QftuoG4x4qY


5. A Sampling of Material about Other Women Astronomers

NOTE: This section is organized by the last name of the astronomers being described, not by author.

A special issue of the on-line magazine Sky’s Up in Jan. 2018 was devoted to women in astronomy: https://view.joomag.com/skys-up-january-february-2018/0999470001513909897

Bagenal, Fran: Interview: https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/people/1480/fran-bagenal/ Plus see: Women in Planetary Science: https://womeninplanetaryscience.wordpress.com/2010/07/16/women-in-planetary-science-meet-fran-bagenal/

Baliunas, Sallie: see Flamsteed, Sam "Star Spots: The Work of Sallie Baliunas" in Discover, Dec. 1991, p. 29.

Brown, Beth: Profile: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KfJMVDjf6dk

Bunce, Emma: Her page at the U. of Leicester: https://www2.le.ac.uk/departments/physics/people/emmabunce (and a BBC Interview: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m000jvxq

Conklin, Nan Dieter: Two Paths to Heaven’s Gate. 2006, NRAO Archives, 520 Edgemont Rd., Charlottesville, VA 22903. A memoir by a pioneering radio astronomer. See related web pages at: https://www.nrao.edu/archives/static/Conklin/conklin.shtml

and DeVorkin, David “Interview with Nan Dieter-Conklin” 1977, for the Center for the History of Physics: http://www.aip.org/history/ohilist/4573.html

Cordova, France: My Hero Project: (includes biographical information and an interview): http://www.myhero.com/go/hero.asp?hero=dr_france_cordova

Donahue, Megan “Clusters of Galaxies and the Fate of the Universe (or How to be a Cosmologist without Really Trying” in Stern, S. Alan, ed. Our Universe: The Thrill of Extragalactic Exploration as Told by Leading Experts. 2001, Cambridge U. Press; pp. 107-126. Combines a discussion of her work and her development as a scientist.

Edwards, Louise: Interview on “Astronomy in Color”: http://astronomyincolor.blogspot.com/2016/04/faculty-highlight-dr-louise-edwards.html Plus see: “Everybody Has a Story”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CGxRr-lkVis

Guhathakurta, Madhulika: Her autobiographical page at NASA: https://women.nasa.gov/madhulika-guhathakurta/ (plus a NASA interview: https://www.nasa.gov/ames/nisv-podcast-Lika-Guhathakurta )

Holbrook, Jarita: Sasso, Anne “Jarita Holbrook, Guiding Star” at the Science magazine website: https://www.sciencemag.org/careers/2007/06/jarita-holbrook-guiding-star +TED talk on cultural astronomy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tWEsrbzV6wI

Hu, Esther “Looking Back in Time: Searching for the Most Distant Galaxies” in Stern, S. Alan, ed. Our Universe: The Thrill of Extragalactic Exploration as Told by Leading Experts. 2001, Cambridge U. Press; pp. 23-36. Combines a discussion of her work and her development as a scientist.

Isler, Jedidah: 2016 Interview: https://bglh-marketplace.com/2015/09/meet-dr-jedidah-isler-the-first-black-woman-to-graduate-from-yale-with-a-phd-in-astrophysics/ plus TED talk on her life story: https://www.ted.com/talks/jedidah_isler_the_untapped_genius_that_could_change_science_for_the_better

Johnson, Kelsey: TED Talk: https://www.ted.com/speakers/kelsey_johnson and “Grounded in the Stars” (an article about her in Virginia magazine): https://uvamagazine.org/articles/grounded_in_the_stars

Kaspi, Victoria: Short profile and interview in the McGill Reporter, 2001: http://www.mcgill.ca/reporter/33/09/additions/kaspi/ Plus an Article in the Canadian Encyclopedia: https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/victoria-kaspi

Kinney, Anne: see Schomaker, W. “NASA’s Visionary” in Astronomy, Jan. 2005, p. 48. Interview and profile.

Levesque, Emily: The Last Stargazer. 2020, Sourcebooks. Part autobiography, part a set of stories about the joys and challenges of using telescopes today.

Ma, Chung-Pei: talk on her work on monster black holes in the Silicon Valley Astronomy Lectures: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LN9oYjNKBm8&t=2s and her Introductions Necessary profile: https://introductionsnecessary.com/2016/08/24/chung-pei-ma/

Mainzer, Amy: her work with PBS to get young girls into science: https://www.fastcompany.com/3056446/how-pbs-and-nasas-amy-mainzer-are-getting-more-girls-into-science

McFadden, Lucy: My Hero Project (short discussion of her work and how she got into astronomy): http://www.myhero.com/go/hero.asp?hero=Lucy_Mcfadden_06

Meadows, Victoria: Wolchover, Natalie “Victoria Meadows’ Earthly Vision for Alien Life” in Quanta Magazine: https://www.quantamagazine.org/victoria-meadows-earthly-visions-of-alien-life-20180605/ and announcement of Drake Award from the SETI Institute: https://www.geekwire.com/2018/seti-institutes-drake-award-goes-univ-washington-astrobiologist-victoria-meadows/

Meech, Karen: TED Talk on the interstellar object called Oumuamua: https://www.ted.com/talks/karen_j_meech_the_story_of_oumuamua_the_first_visitor_from_another_star_system

Richards, Mercedes: Eshleman, Adams “Mercedes Richards: Stellar Detective” (Penn State University news story 2009): http://news.psu.edu/story/141653/2009/08/05/research/stellar-detective-profile-professor-mercedes-richards

Speck, Angela: “You Can’t Take the Sky Away from Me” (profile article): https://unearthedmag.wordpress.com/2017/05/01/you-cant-take-the-sky-away-from-me-mu-astronomy-professor-angela-speck-says/

Urry, Meg: Essay at CNN site on her career and how bias holds women back: https://www.cnn.com/2012/10/01/opinion/urry-women-science/index.html

Walker, Ashley: Profile and Interview at Scientific American: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/black-astronomers-highlight-achievements-and-obstacles/ and her project to highlight black astronomers: http://astronomyincolor.blogspot.com/2019/03/how-ashley-walker-shined-necessary.html

Weaver, Kimberly: Alumni Spotlight: https://web.archive.org/web/20070430214148/http://alumni.wvu.edu/spotlight/view/kim_weaver/

 

Images to Go with This Article:

 

All of these are either in the public domain or have been released by their institutions for p-r purposes.

Claudia Alexander: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Claudia_Alexander.jpg

Natalie Batalha: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Natalie_Batalha.jpg

Annie Cannon: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Annie_Jump_Cannon_1922_Portrait.jpg

Sandra Faber: https://news.ucsc.edu/2017/05/images/sandra-faber-400.jpg

Debra Fischer: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Debra_Fischer.jpg

Andrea Ghez: https://s3.amazonaws.com/cms.ipressroom.com/173/files/20198/5d8e57672cfac209fd50de73_Andrea+Ghez+photo+1+by+Elena+Zhukova/Andrea+Ghez+photo+1+by+Elena+Zhukova_cba30dca-864c-4388-8113-e21b48445914-prv.jpg

Caroline Herschel: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:PSM_V08_D660_Caroline_Herschel.jpg

Henrietta Leavitt: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Leavitt_aavso.jpg

Rosaly Lopes: https://d2pn8kiwq2w21t.cloudfront.net/original_images/imagespeoplelopes-r1-browse.jpg

Jane Luu: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:JaneLu@Stellafanesml_8416.jpg

Maria Mitchell: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Maria_Mitchell_portrait.jpg

Cecilia Payne: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Cecilia_Helena_Payne_Gaposchkin_(1900-1979)_(3).jpg

Nancy Roman: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:DrNancyGraceRoman2.jpg

Sara Seager: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sara_Seager_CHF-Cain-Conference-May-2016-055.jpg

Aomawa Shields: https://s3.amazonaws.com/talkstar-photos/uploads/7399150d-c1d1-405d-b719-849b85ce405b/AomawaShields_2015U-embed.jpg

Ellen Stofan: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ellen_Stofan_(10409828915).jpg

Jill Tarter: https://media.npr.org/assets/img/2012/07/06/tarter-jill-in-office-3_2010-6be7e762ab59e795db4d96bf7bae0ea959a6a526-s1200.jpg

Multiverse skin is based on Greytness by Adammer